1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the purity of gases. More particularly, it relates to the monitoring of the purity of gases within process reactors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The purity of the gases employed in various processing operations, as in the semiconductor industry, often has a great effect on the product quality or the ultimate yield of product devices that are being produced. Considerable effort has been made in the art to develop analytical tools suitable for measuring the purity of process gases as received or generated at a manufacturing facility. However, little attention has been paid to the purity of such gases once they enter process equipment for use therein. Nevertheless, the ability to successfully monitor gas purity within a process reactor or other such equipment would be of appreciable benefit in the art, not only with respect to continuous on line monitoring of processes requiring or benefiting by a critical control of gas purity, but also for the troubleshooting of processing problems, the establishing of baseline conditions with respect to new processing operations, and the developing of optimum processing conditions for enhancing product yields or achieving other desirable results.
There is a genuine need in the art, therefore, for the development of practical means for the monitoring of gas purity within processing equipment. Such means should desirably have relatively rapid response times, be capable of operation without the introduction of impurities into the processing operation being carried out, and be operable without affecting the flow rate through the processing system being analyzed. With the development of such means in convenient, readily operable form for practical commercial application, the numbers of processing activities that can benefit from such gas monitoring means is likely to increase as the potential benefits of such in situ analysis are appreciated with respect to such various processing activities.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide a means for the monitoring of gases within a processing vessel.
It is another object of the invention to provide an analysis system capable of rapidly carrying out analyses with respect to gases withdrawn from within a processing vessel.
It is another object of the invention to provide a gas analysis system for the monitoring of gases from within a processing operation without interference with the performance characteristics thereof.
It is another object of the invention to provide a gas analysis system which is sufficiently flexible to be used in the detection of significant impurities which are periodically present as well as for gas constituents which are typically present within a given process.
With these and other objects in mind, the invention is hereinafter described in detail, the novel features thereof being particularly pointed out in the appended claims.